Our Mission
Many years ago, as clearly as I can recall I was coming home from work one evening under a beautiful and shiny sky. It was always a tradition for the young people of the community where I was living back home in Cameroon and in the city of Yaounde to be specific to come and welcome me with hugs and an attempt to speak English with me. They loved English so much so that they asked me to teach them English. I agreed to do so -free of charge, out of love and compassion. Some of these kids had parents who could afford for their education and others had no one they could rely on to pay either for their registration or tuition maybe because their parents had passed away or the only brother or uncle who could "save" them was not earning enough income or worse was without employment. I became friend with a lot of young people in the community and I would teach them English on my way back from work . We started meeting under a mango tree. They would be waiting for me to walk up the hill to see that they already gathered themselves, for those who had been to school still holding their books and and their notebooks in their hands. As soon as I reached them the class would immediately start (under a tree). We had class everyday from Monday to Friday.Saturdays were devoted for some fun activities and events consisting in bringing children out in order to encourage interaction through games, music, sports that build unity. What I was going to teach was the basic of English language like saying the date, saying your name, greeting and identifying genders. This might not mean much to you, but to them it was a great accomplish just to repeat what you would tell them.
From teaching under a mango tree, a muslin man who noticed what I was doing and seeing that his children also were kind like benefiting from this life changing moments decided to open for us the doors of the room where he used to teach the Koran. We now moved from under a mango tree to "a classroom."About 25 young people would gather in that little room at least three times during the week and on Saturdays under a common denominator: Learning English.The success of these initiatives are ascribed for the most part to the determination of my students and the love and compassion that motivated us.
The community in which I lived became alive. Outdoor events began to be created in partnership with the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and the American Cultural Center. These two groups would provide us with literature dealing with children rights, history and geography. But yet I still haven't told you what happened that evening when I was heading home from work, what I saw and that propelled my commitment and determination to promote children rights and advocate for the innocent and vulnerable.I was coming home that evening and saw something on a heap of trash which was a duping place. Oh! It gives me tears and sadness as I think about it. It was the remains of a baby. I became cold and looked around searching for a way to help, but there was none in my capacity. I looked again thinking that the baby was still alive, but that was a dead body. With tears in my eyes and my soul I walked to the house and looked for the police number in the directory. I called them from a neighbor's phone. The police, the firefighters and the emergency crew showed up that evening and the lifeless body of my baby was carried away. I did leave the scene immed
iately maybe after 10 minutes reminiscing on what had happened and making a commitment right there on that day because of what happened to stand for children and the youth. Therefore Mission Of Grace International believes in the spiritual, social, educational and mental development of the youth in order to build and establish ethics, moral and strong leadership at all levels. To be able to reach their goal the members of MGI have vowed to lift up the virtues of Love and Compassion without which no lasting result can be attained when it comes to empowering young people with an investment for time and eternity.
